It was very important to my Fiance and I to have vendors that were local to the San Juan Island. For that reason we were thrilled when everyone had great things to say about DJ Doug. We contacted him and booked him for our April 2016 wedding and felt great about the decision. He had a very interactive website and it made it easy to do the planning part of the music from afar. All in all I can confidently say that Doug provided fun music and we had a great dance party. What I can not confidently say is that he did a great job on the other parts involved in being the DJ at our wedding.
I am a very detailed person who made a very detailed and easy to follow timeline of events for Doug. It had EXACTLY what was going to happen for the whole night in it. Who he was going to introduce at what time, what songs to play etc... In a former life I used to be a wedding coordinator so I know the detail necessary to make sure there is good flow for a party. Doug absolutely failed miserably at the execution of the events in our wedding.
#1 - He failed to introduce my 7 year old daughter during the bridal party introductions. This was really sad and took away from what was supposed to be a really great moment for her. It was sad to see her awkwardly walk in without any acknowledgement as the Flower Girl despite it being written on the paper for him EXACTLY.
#2 He failed to keep to the timeline. I as the bride had to be on him asking him to do things, play the father daughter dance, cut the cake etc....
#3- He failed to do any MC'ing of the event. He didn't introduce my Mother and Father In Law to make their speech. When I said to him that we needed to get their toast going, he simply told me the mic is on the dance floor when they want it..... After which he failed to introduce the toasts by the Maid of Honor and Best Man...my Mother in Law had to awkwardly go to the microphone and say something like "Oh I think now it is time, maybe for the Best Man? Matt? " .... not ok.
#4- He failed to play music between things. When things would end, for example, my dance with my father or a speech ...there was dead silence. Dead. Silence. Nothing. Until... I went over and said "please play something/ ANYTHING...!!! It was as if he was too distracted to realize that there was no music on at all.
#5 - And last but very very not least..... I asked for ZERO lighting effects. I didn't want my reception to look like a High School Prom. Did he listen?. NO. This I communicated to him at least 4 different times. He put laser lighting shooting across the dance floor while people were dancing ..This ruined all of the dancing pictures our photographer took as people have strange neon lights all over them and it just looks utterly ridiculous.
There were HUGE gaps in the details and that left me with a very negative impression of DJ Doug's service. I would not recommend his services due to these issues and his lack of care or concern for executing some very basic duties and expectations. read more